SI Article on Boston (by Wizards fan Andrew Sharp)

[Moranis]

https://www.si.com/nba/2017/11/15/kyrie-irving-boston-celtics-brad-stevens-winning-streak-danny-ainge

[unclebay]

"They probably aren't in the top five (teams) if we're being honest."

[wdleehi]

"They probably aren't in the top five (teams) if we're being honest."

That statement probably deserves a followup.   


That's fine though.   This team will still have to prove itself in the playoffs.   

[footey]

https://www.si.com/nba/2017/11/15/kyrie-irving-boston-celtics-brad-stevens-winning-streak-danny-ainge

Great article. TP.

[SHAQATTACK]

Team is measured where they are in the present , not six days  or six months .  The only true information we have is the record as it stands game by game .  This Washington homer is full of wizard turds.

The record is what it is . No excuses either way.

When or if the Celtics loose 10 games in a row , then say they were over rated......but its not fair , the games have yet to be played .....smh ......hes a hater ,  chomping at the bit to hate on a team he does not pull for.   I see what he is doing. 

Alot of people who hate the celtics are over  looking the facts .  Those games have not been played , that THEY want Celtics to fail ......wait till they are played dummy then rag on the Celtics for being fake.

Whats on the sheet is whats on the sheet ......

Sorry SI ...like it or lump it ........live in the day.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Team is measured where they are in the present , not six days  or six months .  The only true information we have is the record as it stands game by game .  This Washington homer is full of wizard turds.

The record is what it is . No excuses either way.

When or if the Celtics loose 10 games in a row , then say they were over rated......but its not fair , the games have yet to be played .....smh ......hes a hater ,  chomping at the bit to hate on a team he does not pull for.   I see what he is doing. 

Alot of people who hate the celtics are over  looking the facts .  Those games have not been played , that THEY want Celtics to fail ......wait till they are played dummy then rag on the Celtics for being fake.

Whats on the sheet is whats on the sheet ......

Sorry SI ...like it or lump it ........live in the day.

ok after reading your comments i am not clicking that link. Thanks for the cliff notes.

[kozlodoev]

Of course, here's where we add the disclaimer that the Celtics aren't actually the best team in the NBA. They probably aren't in the top five if we're being honest. Boston's played the easiest schedule in the league so far, and they won't finish the year with the best defense in basketball.

Except that isn't true. In fact, it isn't even close to being true. Boston's Strength of Schedule is .502, which places them in the top half of the NBA (13th to be exact). They are second in the NBA in Relative Percent Index (a composite measure taking 25% of own winning percentage, 50% SoS, and 25% opponents' SOS).

http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi

I'd hazard a guess and say that being a top 5 team and one of the top defensive teams is entirely plausible, much to the chagrin of that one Wizards fan.

[Moranis]

Team is measured where they are in the present , not six days  or six months .  The only true information we have is the record as it stands game by game .  This Washington homer is full of wizard turds.

The record is what it is . No excuses either way.

When or if the Celtics loose 10 games in a row , then say they were over rated......but its not fair , the games have yet to be played .....smh ......hes a hater ,  chomping at the bit to hate on a team he does not pull for.   I see what he is doing. 

Alot of people who hate the celtics are over  looking the facts .  Those games have not been played , that THEY want Celtics to fail ......wait till they are played dummy then rag on the Celtics for being fake.

Whats on the sheet is whats on the sheet ......

Sorry SI ...like it or lump it ........live in the day.

ok after reading your comments i am not clicking that link. Thanks for the cliff notes.

he didn't really cliff note it.

[hwangjini_1]

Team is measured where they are in the present , not six days  or six months .  The only true information we have is the record as it stands game by game .  This Washington homer is full of wizard turds.

The record is what it is . No excuses either way.

When or if the Celtics loose 10 games in a row , then say they were over rated......but its not fair , the games have yet to be played .....smh ......hes a hater ,  chomping at the bit to hate on a team he does not pull for.   I see what he is doing. 

Alot of people who hate the celtics are over  looking the facts .  Those games have not been played , that THEY want Celtics to fail ......wait till they are played dummy then rag on the Celtics for being fake.

Whats on the sheet is whats on the sheet ......

Sorry SI ...like it or lump it ........live in the day.

ok after reading your comments i am not clicking that link. Thanks for the cliff notes.

actually, you should read it for yourself. it is a fun read and i think the underlying analyses are worth knowing.

besides, reading is good for you. 

[Moranis]

"They probably aren't in the top five (teams) if we're being honest."

I'm not so sure that isn't wrong.  Notice he didn't say in the East.  I think you could make reasonable arguments that at least 5 teams in the west are "better" than Boston, especially without Hayward.  And that doesn't account for the Cavs, who I suspect many believe will be better than Boston when it counts.

[kozlodoev]

"They probably aren't in the top five (teams) if we're being honest."

I'm not so sure that isn't wrong.  Notice he didn't say in the East.  I think you could make reasonable arguments that at least 5 teams in the west are "better" than Boston, especially without Hayward.  And that doesn't account for the Cavs, who I suspect many believe will be better than Boston when it counts.

I challenge you to name three teams better than the Celtics that aren't named GS or Houston (Houston, btw, has decidedly the weakest SOS at .490 among 10-win teams, but noone is talking about that).

[nickagneta]

For being a Wizards fan, I thought he lumped a ton of praise on the front office, Wyc, Stevens, and the Celtics core. Sure he took a couple of jabs, like the quote above, but for the most part I think he was very positive and jealous of our team.

[kozlodoev]

For being a Wizards fan, I thought he lumped a ton of praise on the front office, Wyc, Stevens, and the Celtics core. Sure he took a couple of jabs, like the quote above, but for the most part I think he was very positive and jealous of our team.

The praise is over the top because somehow the world erroneously believed that when Hayward went down that was the end of the season for us... or something. Sure, we took a hit. However, we still replaced Thomas, Bradley, Crowder, and Olynyk with Irving, Tatum, Morris, and Baynes. This is arguably an upgrade to a team that was first seed and made it to the ECF last season.

[moiso]

Good article.  Bad title.

[Moranis]

"They probably aren't in the top five (teams) if we're being honest."

I'm not so sure that isn't wrong.  Notice he didn't say in the East.  I think you could make reasonable arguments that at least 5 teams in the west are "better" than Boston, especially without Hayward.  And that doesn't account for the Cavs, who I suspect many believe will be better than Boston when it counts.

I challenge you to name three teams better than the Celtics that aren't named GS or Houston (Houston, btw, has decidedly the weakest SOS at .490 among 10-win teams, but noone is talking about that).

I think you could make reasonable arguments that GS, Houston, San Antonio, Minnesota, and OKC are "better" teams than Boston or at least certainly a better playoff caliber team (and it wouldn't be totally laughable to put a team like Denver in that mix as well).  Then you have Cleveland, Milwaukee, Toronto, and Washington from the East, who all could rather easily beat Boston (without Hayward) in the playoffs (notice I said could reasonably, not that they will). 

Edit: to fix wrong team name